This invention relates to sorting-type toys, and in particular to a multi-compartment sorting toy used both for enjoyment and also to enhance dexterity.
Sorting-type toys utilizing balls passing between compartments are known, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,840,234 and 4,451,038. The former patent relates to a tetrahedron having internal compartments, some of which having apertures to permit a ball to pass from compartment to compartment. The latter patent is spherical with internally manipulatable dividers having openings to permit passage of a marble or a die. Other types of toys utilizing balls are known, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,747,937; 3,901,510; 4,376,537 and 4,413,823. Such devices test the skill of a user by requiring passage of a ball in some manner internally within the device.
While the above-identified patents have disclosed various devices requiring user skill and manipulation, none pertains to a recreational type toy permitting internal sorting of variously-identified balls into a series of angularly-spaced compartments. The interest of a user is often rapidly lost if the device is too difficult to operate or too difficult to learn to operate.